Judges Cry Over Poor Pay

TENSION IS brewing in the country’s judicial service as magistrates and circuit court judges across the country groan over low salaries and poor conditions of service.

The angry members of the bench at the lower courts say a strike action is among several options they are weighing to press home their demand for better remunerations if diplomatic avenues to address their grievances fail to yield any positive results, credible information reaching Daily Guide suggested.

Even though the lower court judges are supposed to have their salaries, benefits and service of conditions determined under Article 149 of the 1992 Constitution by the President, in consultation with the Judicial Council, this has never been applied since the constitution was established.

Abhorred by the situation, the Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana (AMJG) last year sent a proposal to the Judicial Council to consider a review of the salaries and conditions of service of the lower court judges.

This resulted in the setting up of the Nana Dr. S.K.B. Asante committee by the Judicial Council that looked into the issues and reported back to the council to accept and implement the proposal of the judges.

The about 180 judges and their magistrate counterparts, Daily Guide gathered, claimed the judicial council unanimously accepted the committee’s findings and forwarded the report to the President for approval and implementation.

Several months have gone by and President John Atta Mills and his government are yet to react to the proposal and recommendation of the judicial council, leading to the uneasy calm in the judicial service which serves as one of the arms of government.

There is the fear that the low morale in the lower courts would breed corruption and paralyze operations at the lower courts as the take home pay of a magistrates is around GH¢800 while that of a circuit court judge is pegged at GH¢1,000.

They have therefore vowed to use all legal means to redress their grievances.